Automatic water-feed apparatus for steam-boilers.



g Patented Apr. 30, mm; a. J. couenuu. AUTOMATIC WATER FEED APPARATUSFOR STEAM BOILERS.

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No. 673,,"3. Patented A r. 30 I90I. o. J. COUGHLIN. p AUTOMATIC WATER FEED APPARATUS FOR S TEAM 8 (Application filed Mn. 2, 1900.)

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IIIIIIIIHH 4 ms NORRIS Przns on, mwo-umou wshmmixn UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

OWEN JOHN COUGI-ILIN, OF JOLIE'I, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC WATER-FEED APPARATUS .FOR STEAM-BOILERS.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Patent No. 673,113, dated April30, 1901. Application filed March 2, 1900. SerialNo. 7,095. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, OWEN JOHN COUGHLIN, a citizen of the United States,residing at J oliet, in the county of Will and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Automatic Water-Feed Apparatus forSteam-Boilers, of which the following is. a specification.

My invention is an improved automatic water-feed apparatus forsteam-boilers adapted to automatically set in operation a steamboilerfeed-Water pump, injector, or siphon when the water in the boilerbecomes low and to admit water from the boiler into the firebox thereof,and thereby extinguish the fire when the Water becomes dangerously lowin the boiler, hence avoiding danger of boiler explosions and injury tothe crown-sheet of the fire-box.

To this end myinvention consists in a chamber having steam and waterconnections with the boilerand feed-water and fire-extinguisher ports, avalve .(one ormore) to open and close said feed-water andfire-extinguisher ports, and a float and connections whereby said valveor valves may be automatically operated by said float.

My invention further consists in the peculiar construction andcombination of devices hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out inthe claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is.

an elevation, partly in section, of an automatic water-feed apparatusembodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a detail sectional viewillustrating the construction of thecylinder head or plug, thevalve-seat, and steamports and connections therein and the valve. Fig. 3is a sectional view of a modified form of my improved automaticwater-feed apparatus. Figs. 4 and 5 are detail sectional views of thesame.

In the embodiment of my invention I employ a chamber 1, which ispreferably cylindrical in form and vertically disposed, as here shown.With the lower end of the cylinder communicates a pipe 2, which leadsfrom the boiler below the normal water-line therein, and said water-pipehas a cook or valve 3. The upper end of the cylinder is closed by asuitable cap 4, which is here shown as a screwplug, which has its lowerportion cut away dia I metrically through the center and provided with avertical valve-seat 5 for a verticallymovable slide-valve 6. A plate 7on the outer side of said valve and secured to the plug by means ofscrews, as at 8, or by other suitable means serves to retain the valvein its seat. Steam-channels 9 1O communicate with the valve-seat andterminate there in ports 9 10*, respectively. A feed-water. pump,injector, or siphon for the steam-boiler (indicated at 11) communicateswith the steam-channel 9 through the pipe 12, in which is a valve orcook 13 and with which also communicates a steam-whistle 14.

A steam-pipe 15 communicates with the boiler at a point within thesteam-space therein and is connected with a steam-inlet port 15 in thecylinder cap or plug, and said pipe 15 is provided with a valve or cook'16.

A water-pipe 17 communicates with the union- 18, which connects thewater-pipe 2 of the boiler with the lower end of the chamber or cylinder1, said pipe 17 leading to and bein g adapted to discharge water in thefire-box of the boiler. A valve 19 is located in the union 18% a pointbetween the pipes 2 and 17 and is normally closed. Said valve in theform of my invention illustrated in Fig. l is provided with an arm 20,by means of which it may be opened and closed, and said arm-is connectedto a piston 21 in a cylinder 22 by a rod 23. A blow-off pipe 24communicates with the union 18 at a point above the valve 19 and isprovided with a blow-01f valve or cook 25. A pipe 26 connects thesteam-channel 10 with the cylinder 21. and is adapted to convey steamfrom the cylinder or chamber 1 to said cylinder 21 for the purposepresently described herein.

A valve 6 is, normally closed in its seat to its full extent by a spring27, which may be either of the form here shown or of any other suitableform, and said valve is by the said spring caused to normally close theports 9 10 and thereby serves to normally cut off communication betweenthe boiler feed-water pump, injector, or siphon and the cylinder orchamber 1 and to also cut off communication between said cylinder orchamber 1 and the cylinder 21.

An operating-stem 27 depends from the slide-valve 6 and passes through acentral opening in a disk 28, which is adapted to float on the column ofwater in the lower portion of the cylinder or chamber 1 and to rise andfall as the water-level rises and falls within the boiler and withinsaid cylinder or chamber. To the lower end of the said stem is secured ahead or stop 29.

The operation of my invention is as follows: The apparatus beingattached to the boiler A by means of the pipe 15 and pipe 2, and beingalso adapted to communicate with the interior of the fire-box throughthe pipe 17, and the valve 19 being closed and the valves or cocks inthe pipes 12, 15, and 26 open, steam enters the upper end of thecylinder or chamber through the pipe 15 and Water enters the lower endthereof through the pipe 2, the valve 3 therein being open. The normalwater-level is at some distance above the head 29 of the valve-operatingstem, and the float or disk 28 being maintained on the surface of thecolumn of water in the lower end of the cylinder or chamber the valveremains closed by means of the spring 27 under normal conditions. As thewater decreases in the boiler the water column in the cylinder orchamber 1 lowers correspondingly, thereby lowering the disk or float 28,and when the latter contacts with the head or stop 29 on the valve-stem27, the column of water continuing to decrease in height, thesteam-pressure on the upper side of said float or disk will as the waterrecedes cause the said float or disk to operate the valve by moving thesame downwardly, so as to uncover the port 9 in whole or in part, andthereby admit steam from the cylinder or chamber 1 under pressure fromthe boiler through the pipe 12 into a cylinder, (indicated at 11,) inwhich it will act upon a piston connected operatively with a valve of afeed-water pump, siphon, or injector, and thereby start the same inoperation and replenish the supply of water in the boiler. At the sametime the whistle 14 is sounded, as will be readily understood, and saidwhistle continues to sound until the water in the boiler reaches itsnormal level, the ascending column of water raising the disk or float 28and permitting the spring 27- to close the valve in its seat, andthereby cut off the port 9.

If from any cause the feed-water pump, injector, or siphon should failto work after the valve thereof has been opened, as above described, bysteam-pressure set in action by the descending disk or float 28 and thevalve (5, the latter will be caused by the said disk or float as thelatter continues to descend to not only open the port 9, but to alsoopen the port 10, and the parts of my improved apparatus are soproportioned that this port 10 will be opened when the water in theboiler is at a dangerously-low stage. When said port 10 is opened by thevalve 6, steam under boiler-pressure is admitted through the pipe 26 tothe cylinder 21 and caused to eX- ert pressure upon the piston in saidcylinder, thereby moving said piston and causing the same through theconnections 23 20 to open the valve 19 in the union 18, therebyestablishing communication between the boiLer, water-pipe 2, and thepipe 17, which leads to the interior of the fire-box, and hence waterfrom the boiler will'be forced under boiler-pressure through the pipe 17and introduced to the interior of the fire-box, where it will speedilyextinguish the fire therein, thus rendering an' explosion of the boilerimpossible and also preventing the fire from burning or injuring thecrown-sheet of the firebox should the latter become uncovered by thedecrease of the water in the boiler.

It is well known to engineers, firemen, and boiler-owners that even inthe event that upon a dangerously-low stage of Water in the boiler thelatter should fail to explode material injury would nevertheless belikelyto be caused by the burning of the crown-sheet of the fire-box,the replacing of which involves an expenditure also as great as the costof a new boiler. Myimproved automatic feed-water apparatus not onlyobviates danger of a boiler explosion resulting from a low stage ofwater in the boiler, but also obviates injury to the crown-sheet of thefire-box resulting therefrom.

In the modified formof my invention (illustrated in Figs. 3, L, and 5) Idispense with the cylinder 22, the piston therein, valve 1!),connections between the same and the piston, pipe 26, and channelandport 10", and in lieu thereof I connect the pipe 17, which leads to thefire-box directly with the lower end of the cylinder or chamber 1,through a port 17, and provide a valve 28 for said port.

Said valve has a stem 29, which rises there-' from and terminates in ahead or stop 30 and is kept normally closed over the port 17 by aspring, as at 31. In this form of myinvention when the water becomesdangerously low in the boiler the head 29 of valve 6, by the continueddescent of the disk or float 28, will contact with the head 30, andthereby depress the valve 17 and cause the same to open the port andestablish communication between the interior of the cylinder or chamherand the interior of the fire-box, whereupon water from the boiler willpass through the pipe 2 into the lower end of the cylinder or chamber 1,and from the latter through the pipe 17 and nozzle 32, at the lower endthereof, into the interior of the fire-box, for the purpose hereinbeforestated.

When my improved automatic water-feed apparatus is used in connectionwith a boiler having a furnace in which oil is used as the fuel, thevalve 19 may be employed in the oilfeed pipe leading to the furnace, sothat when said valve is moved or turned by the means hereinbeforedescribed when the water in the boiler is at a dangerously low stage,said valve may be caused to cut off the supply of oil or other liquidfuel to the furnace, and hence cause the fire therein to be extinguishedand prevent injury to the crown-sheet and avoid danger of exploding theboiler.

I do not desire to be limited to the precise form and construction ofdevices hereinbefore described, as it is evident that modifications maybe made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. The combination of asteam boiler, a feed-water apparatus (as a pump or the like) asteam-pressure cylinder, a chamber, a pipe extending from the lower endthereof to the fire-box of the boiler, a valve in said pipe, connectionsbetween said valve and the piston in the pressure -cylinder, awater-pipe uniting said pipe, at a point between the said chamber andvalve, to the Water-space of the boiler, a cap in the upper end of thechamber having steam connection with the boiler, and steam-channelscommunicating respectively with the feed-water apparatus and thepressure-cylinder, said channels terminating in ports, disposed oneabove the other, a slidevalve supported in said cap, to open said portssuccessively on the descent thereof, and a float connected to saidvalve, to operate the same, substantially as described.

2. In combination With a steam-boiler and a feed-water apparatus, (as apump or the like,) a chamber having steam and water connections at itsupper and lower ends respectively with said boiler, and a steam-channelleading to the feed-water apparatus and having a port, a slide-valve toopen and close said port, said valve having a depending rod providedwith a head, a spring to normally close said valve, and a float, movableon the said rod independently thereof, and adapted on the descent of thefloat to engage the head of the said rod and open said valve,substantially as described.

3. In apparatus of the class described, a chamber having a steam-channelprovided with a port, a valve to open and close said port, a spring tonormally retain said valve in a closed position, a rod depending fromsaid valve and having a head, and a float, movable on said rod,independently thereof, said float engaging said head on the descent ofthe float, to open said valve, substantially as described.

4. The combination of a steam -boiler, a feed-Water apparatus (as a pumpor the like), a steam-pressure cylinder, a chamber having steamconnection with the boiler and steamchannels communicating respectivelywith the feed-water apparatus and pressure-cylinder, said channelsterminating in ports disposed one above the other, a slide-valve to opensaid ports respectively on the descent thereof, said valve having adepending rod, a spring to normally retain said valve in a closedposition over said ports, a float, in the said chamber, movableindependently of said rod and adapted on the descent of the float toengage said rod and open said valve, a pipe connecting the lower end ofsaid chamber with the fire-box of the boiler, a valve in said pipe,connections between said valve and the piston in the pressure-chamber,and

a water-pipe connecting saidpipe, at a point between said chamber andvalve, to the water-space'of the boiler, substantially as described. i

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

OWEN JOHN COUGHLIN.

Witnesses:

L. OOUGHLIN, JOHN OAssIDY.

